It was a hot August day in 1958 when Billy Landers stopped by the football practice field at Southwestern to watch some friends going through their preseason drills. After the practice had concluded, Hall of Fame Coach Rick Mays walked over to where Billy was sitting and said, “Why don’t you come play football and baseball with your friends at Southwestern?” A few days later Billy Landers was practicing in a Lynx uniform. He began record-setting careers in baseball and football which rank him as one of the two all-time great athletes in the college’s history.
Billy Landers was a high school phenom in football, basketball and baseball, and he was highly recruited by many major colleges. He decided to attend Ole Miss and play football and baseball, but an injury his freshman year put a halt to his career in Oxford. He transferred to Memphis State, where again an injury put his athletic career on hold. The following fall he was running the football and making tackles for Southwestern at Fargason Field.
Billy Landers was an exceptional football and baseball player, but it was his baseball skills that placed the Lynx baseball program in the national spotlight. Under the guidance of head coach Woody Johnson, Billy was the Most Valuable Player in 1959, 1960 and 1961. He served as co-captain each of his three years on the team. In 1961he was the national leader in stolen bases among all NCAA schools. Billy currently holds the Rhodes College baseball record with a .476 single-season batting average and his career batting average of .411. In 1961 he led the Lynx to a berth in the NCAA National Tournament, where they won the Midwest Regional Championship. For his outstanding play, Billy was selected to the NCAA Regional All-Star Team.
Billy also had an outstanding football career for the Lynx, where he played running back and in the defensive secondary. He was the Co-Most Valuable Player his junior year in 1959 and was nominated for the Little American Team in 1960.
Billy has distinguished himself as a teacher with Memphis City Schools. For his service to his community, his record-setting career as a Lynx baseball and football player, and his success, commitment and dedication as a scholar and athlete, Rhodes is honored to induct BILLY WAYNE LANDERS into the Rhodes Athletic Hall of Fame this 22nd day of October, 2004.
